A31 speed limit WILL be reviewed

A31 speed limit WILL be reviewed A31 speed limit WILL be reviewed

THE Highways Agency is to review speed limits on a notorious stretch of the A31.

Town councillors and residents have been calling for the restriction on the road around Ringwood to be reduced to 50mph following a series of serious and fatal accidents.

Last month 16-year-old Jade Clark was killed when she was knocked off her red scooter by a light coloured Volvo XC90 as she rode westbound towards the Ashley Heath roundabout.

The town council is pressing for a 50mph restriction between Picket Post and the roundabout but had been told the casualty rate was not high enough to justify a reduction.

It said it was still developing plans to reduce congestion by widening the A31 at the West Street junction by the Fish Inn.

Now the Agency has told the Daily Echo it will review the speed limits.

A spokesperson told the Echo: “Safe roads are our top priority at the Highways Agency, and we work hard to understand why incidents occur and do all we can to reduce them.

“We will continue to keep safety on the A31 continually under review and have made a commitment to Ringwood Town Council that we will further review the speed limits.”

Cllr Michael Thierry, pictured left, said: “I welcome the fact they are going to review the situation on the A31 – that is really exciting news. Quite what they decide following their review remains to be seen.

“We believe a temporary reduction in the speed limit would help ease the number of accidents there. We know not everyone will abide by the speed limit but it will make many people slow down.”

He added: “The town council is not going to stop – the campaign will go on.”

MP Desmond Swayne added: “I welcome this move by the Highways Agency but that doesn’t prevent me from pursuing my requests for a meeting with the minister and Ringwood Town Council.

“The last time I met with them they said there had not been enough accidents and secondly speed was not a factor in the accidents that we have had.

“It is effectively through an urban area and therefore could have a 50mph limit on it in exactly the same way the Spur Road through Bournemouth does.”

Comments(46)

skydriver says...
10:46am Mon 18 Mar 13

Reduce the speed now and take any criticism later, for goodness sake take a stand against big brother, after all it's speed reduction not an increase.
Who knows who may be killed next.

speedy231278 says...
11:06am Mon 18 Mar 13

"The town council is pressing for a 50mph restriction between Picket Post and the roundabout but had been told the casualty rate was not high enough to justify a reduction."

Absolutely ridiculous. What is needed is a country-wide promotion of better driving standards, not unnecessary speed limits on main roads. Every week, more roads get yet another 10mph knocked off the limit because people cannot drive to a decent standard and because the authorities know that by doing so people will be encouraged break the new limit as they'll see it as another unnecessary restriction, and that just means more revenue from speeding fines.

If they want safer roads and more money out of motorists, make a retest compulsory every five/ten years. That'll do more to keep dangerous driving down than another knee-jerk speed limit reduction. Not only that, there's still no report on the accident that has created this latest reaction, so how do we even know that speed was an issue? What if this missing Volvo was only doing 40mph at the time of the collision? Do we see the limit reduced to 20? All nonsense.

Tig says...
11:21am Mon 18 Mar 13

speedy231278 wrote:
"The town council is pressing for a 50mph restriction between Picket Post and the roundabout but had been told the casualty rate was not high enough to justify a reduction."

Absolutely ridiculous. What is needed is a country-wide promotion of better driving standards, not unnecessary speed limits on main roads. Every week, more roads get yet another 10mph knocked off the limit because people cannot drive to a decent standard and because the authorities know that by doing so people will be encouraged break the new limit as they'll see it as another unnecessary restriction, and that just means more revenue from speeding fines.

If they want safer roads and more money out of motorists, make a retest compulsory every five/ten years. That'll do more to keep dangerous driving down than another knee-jerk speed limit reduction. Not only that, there's still no report on the accident that has created this latest reaction, so how do we even know that speed was an issue? What if this missing Volvo was only doing 40mph at the time of the collision? Do we see the limit reduced to 20? All nonsense.
Couldn't agree more.

retry69 says...
11:26am Mon 18 Mar 13

speedy231278 wrote:
"The town council is pressing for a 50mph restriction between Picket Post and the roundabout but had been told the casualty rate was not high enough to justify a reduction."

Absolutely ridiculous. What is needed is a country-wide promotion of better driving standards, not unnecessary speed limits on main roads. Every week, more roads get yet another 10mph knocked off the limit because people cannot drive to a decent standard and because the authorities know that by doing so people will be encouraged break the new limit as they'll see it as another unnecessary restriction, and that just means more revenue from speeding fines.

If they want safer roads and more money out of motorists, make a retest compulsory every five/ten years. That'll do more to keep dangerous driving down than another knee-jerk speed limit reduction. Not only that, there's still no report on the accident that has created this latest reaction, so how do we even know that speed was an issue? What if this missing Volvo was only doing 40mph at the time of the collision? Do we see the limit reduced to 20? All nonsense.
100% spot on comment and the inclusion of that picture infers that the accident was a result of speed which is misleading at this present moment

pauls55 says...
11:28am Mon 18 Mar 13

Why do they always wait for someone to die before taking any action? Anyone with half a brain cell can see it is so dangerous to have traffic travelling at 70 (and above by all the maniacs) when two slower lanes are joining in close locality with no time to make up the speed to join the main carriageway. This stretch of road is a classic case of a major accident waiting to happen and for that poor family it now has.

grazzer says...
11:29am Mon 18 Mar 13

The biggest danger here is that many drivers exiting from the Ashley Heath roundabout join the slip road TOO SLOWLY. .lf you are joining a traffic stream that is doing 70mph it stands to reason that you should be matching their speed as you exit.Joining a dual carriageway at half the speed of the main traffic is extremely dangerous

upyourpipe says...
11:57am Mon 18 Mar 13

I often wonder at the at some of these accidents, speed is not an issue its the driving standard.
Its all to simple to blame speed every time a fatal accident occurs, how simple is it to drive a vehicle with a wheel on each corner and not hit anyone.
I think most of these accidents occur because of the layout of the road, that area has always been a mess, to many slip roads entering and exiting.
The easiest and cheapest answer is to reduce speed limits but the more expensive option would be to investigate the road layout and change it completely but that will never happen because of the cost.

The Renegade Master says...
12:12pm Mon 18 Mar 13

50mph limit on both carriageways between Poulner Hill and Ashley Heath, enforced by average speed cameras.
No more excuses, this needs to happen and very soon.

Twingo says...
12:44pm Mon 18 Mar 13

What so many motorists fail to notice is that the four lanes here are two roads, the a31 and the a338, running side by side. Sadly vehicles joining the a31 have not had adequate time to build up the speed necessary to join the flowing traffic, and also there are cars trying to leave the a31 to get on to the a338. The safest way to join the a31 westbound coming from Ringwood or the filling station in a slower vehicle would be to continue up to the Ashley Heath roundabout and utilise the westbound on slip from there. Similarly traffic approaching from Ashley Heath or Verwood to join the a31 eastbound can continue down to the Ringwood roundabout and use the slip road onto the a31 from there rather than try to cut across the lanes of traffic.
Sadly for Jade this is the sort of self preservation driving that only comes with experience.

The Liberal says...
12:52pm Mon 18 Mar 13

grazzer wrote:
The biggest danger here is that many drivers exiting from the Ashley Heath roundabout join the slip road TOO SLOWLY. .lf you are joining a traffic stream that is doing 70mph it stands to reason that you should be matching their speed as you exit.Joining a dual carriageway at half the speed of the main traffic is extremely dangerous
Really? What about vehicles that are limited to a lower speed then? Like heavy goods vehicles, buses, cars towing trailers etc?
 
Also, what about other dual carriageways where there is a short slip road that doesn't enable most vehicles to get up to speed? There may also be occasions when one has to stop on a slip road, since it is unsafe to pull out.

PokesdownMark says...
12:57pm Mon 18 Mar 13

I don't think the road is that bad. Yes some vehicles carry too much speed 'For Current Conditions' over the flyover. Some drivers come over the flyover and stick to lane 1 even when they could safely switch to lane 2 - the road merging from the left sign is large enough! Some drivers drive down the slip road and do not increase their speed to match the main carriageway. Many drivers drive far to close to other drivers. None of these things will stop even if the limit is dropped to 50mph. All this will do is criminalise drivers using the road when traffic is light and visibility if perfect and 65mph is perfectly ok. Also further erode people's credence for limits.

SensibleChap says...
1:08pm Mon 18 Mar 13

Typical knee-jerk reaction. I remain hopeful the Highways Agency will base any decison to change the restrictions on this stretch of road on the EVIDENCE. If there is no evidence a spped limit reduction will make any change then there is no case for change.

pauls55 says...
1:12pm Mon 18 Mar 13

grazzer wrote:
The biggest danger here is that many drivers exiting from the Ashley Heath roundabout join the slip road TOO SLOWLY. .lf you are joining a traffic stream that is doing 70mph it stands to reason that you should be matching their speed as you exit.Joining a dual carriageway at half the speed of the main traffic is extremely dangerous
The problem is this accident happened on the westbound side where there is no possiblility of ever matching the speed of the traffic on the main carriageway, especially if you are coming out of the Petrol Station. The road was badly designed in the first place and in the abscence of re-designing the road the speed has to come down so that no-one else suffers like this poor family did.

Ste-V-e says...
1:20pm Mon 18 Mar 13

retry69 wrote:
speedy231278 wrote:
"The town council is pressing for a 50mph restriction between Picket Post and the roundabout but had been told the casualty rate was not high enough to justify a reduction."

Absolutely ridiculous. What is needed is a country-wide promotion of better driving standards, not unnecessary speed limits on main roads. Every week, more roads get yet another 10mph knocked off the limit because people cannot drive to a decent standard and because the authorities know that by doing so people will be encouraged break the new limit as they'll see it as another unnecessary restriction, and that just means more revenue from speeding fines.

If they want safer roads and more money out of motorists, make a retest compulsory every five/ten years. That'll do more to keep dangerous driving down than another knee-jerk speed limit reduction. Not only that, there's still no report on the accident that has created this latest reaction, so how do we even know that speed was an issue? What if this missing Volvo was only doing 40mph at the time of the collision? Do we see the limit reduced to 20? All nonsense.
100% spot on comment and the inclusion of that picture infers that the accident was a result of speed which is misleading at this present moment
Exactly.

The Liberal says...
1:49pm Mon 18 Mar 13

pauls55 wrote:
grazzer wrote:
The biggest danger here is that many drivers exiting from the Ashley Heath roundabout join the slip road TOO SLOWLY. .lf you are joining a traffic stream that is doing 70mph it stands to reason that you should be matching their speed as you exit.Joining a dual carriageway at half the speed of the main traffic is extremely dangerous
The problem is this accident happened on the westbound side where there is no possiblility of ever matching the speed of the traffic on the main carriageway, especially if you are coming out of the Petrol Station. The road was badly designed in the first place and in the abscence of re-designing the road the speed has to come down so that no-one else suffers like this poor family did.
Well said. Nail on head.

retry69 says...
1:58pm Mon 18 Mar 13

pauls55 wrote:
grazzer wrote:
The biggest danger here is that many drivers exiting from the Ashley Heath roundabout join the slip road TOO SLOWLY. .lf you are joining a traffic stream that is doing 70mph it stands to reason that you should be matching their speed as you exit.Joining a dual carriageway at half the speed of the main traffic is extremely dangerous
The problem is this accident happened on the westbound side where there is no possiblility of ever matching the speed of the traffic on the main carriageway, especially if you are coming out of the Petrol Station. The road was badly designed in the first place and in the abscence of re-designing the road the speed has to come down so that no-one else suffers like this poor family did.
I think there is too much assumption in your comment,firstly it was not an accident and you also seem to imply that speed was the cause of the tragedy

pauls55 says...
2:04pm Mon 18 Mar 13

retry69 wrote:
pauls55 wrote:
grazzer wrote: The biggest danger here is that many drivers exiting from the Ashley Heath roundabout join the slip road TOO SLOWLY. .lf you are joining a traffic stream that is doing 70mph it stands to reason that you should be matching their speed as you exit.Joining a dual carriageway at half the speed of the main traffic is extremely dangerous
The problem is this accident happened on the westbound side where there is no possiblility of ever matching the speed of the traffic on the main carriageway, especially if you are coming out of the Petrol Station. The road was badly designed in the first place and in the abscence of re-designing the road the speed has to come down so that no-one else suffers like this poor family did.
I think there is too much assumption in your comment,firstly it was not an accident and you also seem to imply that speed was the cause of the tragedy
A young girl was knocked off her motorcyle by a Volvo and killed and you say it was not an accident? Of course speed is an issue when the traffic has no way of matching the road it is joining.

upyourpipe says...
2:07pm Mon 18 Mar 13

pauls55 wrote:
grazzer wrote:
The biggest danger here is that many drivers exiting from the Ashley Heath roundabout join the slip road TOO SLOWLY. .lf you are joining a traffic stream that is doing 70mph it stands to reason that you should be matching their speed as you exit.Joining a dual carriageway at half the speed of the main traffic is extremely dangerous
The problem is this accident happened on the westbound side where there is no possiblility of ever matching the speed of the traffic on the main carriageway, especially if you are coming out of the Petrol Station. The road was badly designed in the first place and in the abscence of re-designing the road the speed has to come down so that no-one else suffers like this poor family did.
Why reduce the speed of thousands of car because the odd few cant match the speed of the traffic flow.
The slip road should be made longer so cars joining the flow can match the speed.

upyourpipe says...
2:14pm Mon 18 Mar 13

The Renegade Master wrote:
50mph limit on both carriageways between Poulner Hill and Ashley Heath, enforced by average speed cameras.
No more excuses, this needs to happen and very soon.
Stuff speed cameras, redesign the road to make it safer.
Why the fixation with speed cameras, spend a little money and make the road safer to use.
There is absolutely no need to reduce speed from the top of Poulner to Ashley Heath roundabout, if any speed needed reducing it's the part between the flyover and Ashley Heath and then only because of the stupid road layout authorised by the powers that be many years ago.

Skyrah says...
2:14pm Mon 18 Mar 13

Totally agree with all those blaming poor driving rather than speed. Sort out poor drivers and make a retest compulsory following any driving related conviction.

retry69 says...
3:32pm Mon 18 Mar 13

pauls55 wrote:
retry69 wrote:
pauls55 wrote:
grazzer wrote: The biggest danger here is that many drivers exiting from the Ashley Heath roundabout join the slip road TOO SLOWLY. .lf you are joining a traffic stream that is doing 70mph it stands to reason that you should be matching their speed as you exit.Joining a dual carriageway at half the speed of the main traffic is extremely dangerous
The problem is this accident happened on the westbound side where there is no possiblility of ever matching the speed of the traffic on the main carriageway, especially if you are coming out of the Petrol Station. The road was badly designed in the first place and in the abscence of re-designing the road the speed has to come down so that no-one else suffers like this poor family did.
I think there is too much assumption in your comment,firstly it was not an accident and you also seem to imply that speed was the cause of the tragedy
A young girl was knocked off her motorcyle by a Volvo and killed and you say it was not an accident? Of course speed is an issue when the traffic has no way of matching the road it is joining.
Exactly a person was killed most likely by the way a certain untraceable motorist was driving that is not an accident.Accidents are usually unavoidable due to elements beyond your control.

jobsworthwatch says...
4:01pm Mon 18 Mar 13

retry69 wrote:
pauls55 wrote:
retry69 wrote:
pauls55 wrote:
grazzer wrote: The biggest danger here is that many drivers exiting from the Ashley Heath roundabout join the slip road TOO SLOWLY. .lf you are joining a traffic stream that is doing 70mph it stands to reason that you should be matching their speed as you exit.Joining a dual carriageway at half the speed of the main traffic is extremely dangerous
The problem is this accident happened on the westbound side where there is no possiblility of ever matching the speed of the traffic on the main carriageway, especially if you are coming out of the Petrol Station. The road was badly designed in the first place and in the abscence of re-designing the road the speed has to come down so that no-one else suffers like this poor family did.
I think there is too much assumption in your comment,firstly it was not an accident and you also seem to imply that speed was the cause of the tragedy
A young girl was knocked off her motorcyle by a Volvo and killed and you say it was not an accident? Of course speed is an issue when the traffic has no way of matching the road it is joining.
Exactly a person was killed most likely by the way a certain untraceable motorist was driving that is not an accident.Accidents are usually unavoidable due to elements beyond your control.
It would only not be an accident if the motorist deliberately intended to knock this poor girl off her bike.

retry69 says...
4:11pm Mon 18 Mar 13

jobsworthwatch wrote:
retry69 wrote:
pauls55 wrote:
retry69 wrote:
pauls55 wrote:
grazzer wrote: The biggest danger here is that many drivers exiting from the Ashley Heath roundabout join the slip road TOO SLOWLY. .lf you are joining a traffic stream that is doing 70mph it stands to reason that you should be matching their speed as you exit.Joining a dual carriageway at half the speed of the main traffic is extremely dangerous
The problem is this accident happened on the westbound side where there is no possiblility of ever matching the speed of the traffic on the main carriageway, especially if you are coming out of the Petrol Station. The road was badly designed in the first place and in the abscence of re-designing the road the speed has to come down so that no-one else suffers like this poor family did.
I think there is too much assumption in your comment,firstly it was not an accident and you also seem to imply that speed was the cause of the tragedy
A young girl was knocked off her motorcyle by a Volvo and killed and you say it was not an accident? Of course speed is an issue when the traffic has no way of matching the road it is joining.
Exactly a person was killed most likely by the way a certain untraceable motorist was driving that is not an accident.Accidents are usually unavoidable due to elements beyond your control.
It would only not be an accident if the motorist deliberately intended to knock this poor girl off her bike.
Sorry with all due respect that is nonsense.There are rarely any collisions between road users that are classed as accidents as it is usually the fault of someone,hence they are refered to as incidents

jobsworthwatch says...
4:19pm Mon 18 Mar 13

retry69 wrote:
jobsworthwatch wrote:
retry69 wrote:
pauls55 wrote:
retry69 wrote:
pauls55 wrote:
grazzer wrote: The biggest danger here is that many drivers exiting from the Ashley Heath roundabout join the slip road TOO SLOWLY. .lf you are joining a traffic stream that is doing 70mph it stands to reason that you should be matching their speed as you exit.Joining a dual carriageway at half the speed of the main traffic is extremely dangerous
The problem is this accident happened on the westbound side where there is no possiblility of ever matching the speed of the traffic on the main carriageway, especially if you are coming out of the Petrol Station. The road was badly designed in the first place and in the abscence of re-designing the road the speed has to come down so that no-one else suffers like this poor family did.
I think there is too much assumption in your comment,firstly it was not an accident and you also seem to imply that speed was the cause of the tragedy
A young girl was knocked off her motorcyle by a Volvo and killed and you say it was not an accident? Of course speed is an issue when the traffic has no way of matching the road it is joining.
Exactly a person was killed most likely by the way a certain untraceable motorist was driving that is not an accident.Accidents are usually unavoidable due to elements beyond your control.
It would only not be an accident if the motorist deliberately intended to knock this poor girl off her bike.
Sorry with all due respect that is nonsense.There are rarely any collisions between road users that are classed as accidents as it is usually the fault of someone,hence they are refered to as incidents
Of course its the fault of someone but such incidents are never intentional regardless of how those involved were driving. If it's not intentional then it's an accident.

bourne free says...
4:24pm Mon 18 Mar 13

retry69 wrote:
jobsworthwatch wrote:
retry69 wrote:
pauls55 wrote:
retry69 wrote:
pauls55 wrote:
grazzer wrote: The biggest danger here is that many drivers exiting from the Ashley Heath roundabout join the slip road TOO SLOWLY. .lf you are joining a traffic stream that is doing 70mph it stands to reason that you should be matching their speed as you exit.Joining a dual carriageway at half the speed of the main traffic is extremely dangerous
The problem is this accident happened on the westbound side where there is no possiblility of ever matching the speed of the traffic on the main carriageway, especially if you are coming out of the Petrol Station. The road was badly designed in the first place and in the abscence of re-designing the road the speed has to come down so that no-one else suffers like this poor family did.
I think there is too much assumption in your comment,firstly it was not an accident and you also seem to imply that speed was the cause of the tragedy
A young girl was knocked off her motorcyle by a Volvo and killed and you say it was not an accident? Of course speed is an issue when the traffic has no way of matching the road it is joining.
Exactly a person was killed most likely by the way a certain untraceable motorist was driving that is not an accident.Accidents are usually unavoidable due to elements beyond your control.
It would only not be an accident if the motorist deliberately intended to knock this poor girl off her bike.
Sorry with all due respect that is nonsense.There are rarely any collisions between road users that are classed as accidents as it is usually the fault of someone,hence they are refered to as incidents
`As i have said before , if a moped can only do 28mph and is going into a head wind it will still only be doing 25mph which is half the 50mph limit and be a sitting duck again ?
It seems a easy way of saving money by putting up a few 50mph signs when the bend and the set up of all the road junction is the problem ? !
Spend the money on the road layouts as at 50mph its still dangerous ?

retry69 says...
4:31pm Mon 18 Mar 13

jobsworthwatch wrote:
retry69 wrote:
jobsworthwatch wrote:
retry69 wrote:
pauls55 wrote:
retry69 wrote:
pauls55 wrote:
grazzer wrote: The biggest danger here is that many drivers exiting from the Ashley Heath roundabout join the slip road TOO SLOWLY. .lf you are joining a traffic stream that is doing 70mph it stands to reason that you should be matching their speed as you exit.Joining a dual carriageway at half the speed of the main traffic is extremely dangerous
The problem is this accident happened on the westbound side where there is no possiblility of ever matching the speed of the traffic on the main carriageway, especially if you are coming out of the Petrol Station. The road was badly designed in the first place and in the abscence of re-designing the road the speed has to come down so that no-one else suffers like this poor family did.
I think there is too much assumption in your comment,firstly it was not an accident and you also seem to imply that speed was the cause of the tragedy
A young girl was knocked off her motorcyle by a Volvo and killed and you say it was not an accident? Of course speed is an issue when the traffic has no way of matching the road it is joining.
Exactly a person was killed most likely by the way a certain untraceable motorist was driving that is not an accident.Accidents are usually unavoidable due to elements beyond your control.
It would only not be an accident if the motorist deliberately intended to knock this poor girl off her bike.
Sorry with all due respect that is nonsense.There are rarely any collisions between road users that are classed as accidents as it is usually the fault of someone,hence they are refered to as incidents
Of course its the fault of someone but such incidents are never intentional regardless of how those involved were driving. If it's not intentional then it's an accident.
Ok i agree to differ because i can see where this is going, other people might have different interpretations.

Margit says...
5:02pm Mon 18 Mar 13

the fact remains a 16 year old girl on a tiny 49cc scooter by a moron in a huge SUV ! no amount of speed reduction would change this!Her little scooter was not big enough to play with the testosterone overloadet morons that speed up and down that road , no1 has any regards for other roadusers anymore. it sometimes is difficult enough coming from ringwood changing lanes to get to ferndown as drivers seem to ignore indicators and drive with blinkers so pretend not to see indicating cars, so what chance has a 16 year old on a 49cc scooter got ?

retry69 says...
5:13pm Mon 18 Mar 13

Margit wrote:
the fact remains a 16 year old girl on a tiny 49cc scooter by a moron in a huge SUV ! no amount of speed reduction would change this!Her little scooter was not big enough to play with the testosterone overloadet morons that speed up and down that road , no1 has any regards for other roadusers anymore. it sometimes is difficult enough coming from ringwood changing lanes to get to ferndown as drivers seem to ignore indicators and drive with blinkers so pretend not to see indicating cars, so what chance has a 16 year old on a 49cc scooter got ?
Yep, agree with most of your points ,i am up and down that road tomorrow as a passenger so a little first hand experience,i will be taking notes and numbers!

pigfarmer says...
6:51pm Mon 18 Mar 13

Until the full facts are known, all we can do is guess at what happened here.
However, it is a badly designed bit of road, and far too many people seem incapable of dealing with it. having 4 lanes also means that slow 'through' traffic will be in the third of the four and for mopeds (which are not allowed on motorways, which also have the 70mph limit for the simple reason that they are not fast enough for traffic conditions) is downright dangerous. I drive that bit of road quite often and see far too many people joining from Ringwood / fuel station with insufficient speed for the rest of the traffic. It is tragic this young girl has died, but a speed reduction is not the answer, redesign is.

alasdair1967 says...
7:10pm Mon 18 Mar 13

Speed is NOT the issue its the ROAD DESIGN ,and with no disrespect restricted mopeds joining this stretch of road is hazerdous east or west bound and sadly a young girls life was lost as a result

tbpoole says...
8:57pm Mon 18 Mar 13

retry69 wrote:
speedy231278 wrote:
"The town council is pressing for a 50mph restriction between Picket Post and the roundabout but had been told the casualty rate was not high enough to justify a reduction."

Absolutely ridiculous. What is needed is a country-wide promotion of better driving standards, not unnecessary speed limits on main roads. Every week, more roads get yet another 10mph knocked off the limit because people cannot drive to a decent standard and because the authorities know that by doing so people will be encouraged break the new limit as they'll see it as another unnecessary restriction, and that just means more revenue from speeding fines.

If they want safer roads and more money out of motorists, make a retest compulsory every five/ten years. That'll do more to keep dangerous driving down than another knee-jerk speed limit reduction. Not only that, there's still no report on the accident that has created this latest reaction, so how do we even know that speed was an issue? What if this missing Volvo was only doing 40mph at the time of the collision? Do we see the limit reduced to 20? All nonsense.
100% spot on comment and the inclusion of that picture infers that the accident was a result of speed which is misleading at this present moment
It would probably be totally unmanageable and expensive to have ongoing retests. Assuming 35 million able drivers you would have to retest about 3.5 to 7 million a year.....just how big an army of testers would you need to manage that lot - probably at least 10,000? They would need to be trained, paid and insured to test people in their own vehicles. Plus back office staff to manage it all. And where is the evidence it would have any benefit?

Talkingheadera says...
9:03pm Mon 18 Mar 13

Shut the petrol station and extend the slip road so cars can build up speed. No slowing down to pull into petrol station either, the same time as cars are coining round from fish inn to join the carriageway.

retry69 says...
9:06pm Mon 18 Mar 13

jobsworthwatch wrote:
retry69 wrote:
jobsworthwatch wrote:
retry69 wrote:
pauls55 wrote:
retry69 wrote:
pauls55 wrote:
grazzer wrote: The biggest danger here is that many drivers exiting from the Ashley Heath roundabout join the slip road TOO SLOWLY. .lf you are joining a traffic stream that is doing 70mph it stands to reason that you should be matching their speed as you exit.Joining a dual carriageway at half the speed of the main traffic is extremely dangerous
The problem is this accident happened on the westbound side where there is no possiblility of ever matching the speed of the traffic on the main carriageway, especially if you are coming out of the Petrol Station. The road was badly designed in the first place and in the abscence of re-designing the road the speed has to come down so that no-one else suffers like this poor family did.
I think there is too much assumption in your comment,firstly it was not an accident and you also seem to imply that speed was the cause of the tragedy
A young girl was knocked off her motorcyle by a Volvo and killed and you say it was not an accident? Of course speed is an issue when the traffic has no way of matching the road it is joining.
Exactly a person was killed most likely by the way a certain untraceable motorist was driving that is not an accident.Accidents are usually unavoidable due to elements beyond your control.
It would only not be an accident if the motorist deliberately intended to knock this poor girl off her bike.
Sorry with all due respect that is nonsense.There are rarely any collisions between road users that are classed as accidents as it is usually the fault of someone,hence they are refered to as incidents
Of course its the fault of someone but such incidents are never intentional regardless of how those involved were driving. If it's not intentional then it's an accident.
Hope you saw the copper on BBC tv stating that there is no such thing as a road traffic accident as someone is always to blame, thats why they call them road traffic collisions,just a small point

Chris the plumber says...
9:25pm Mon 18 Mar 13

why oh why are so many people against a 50mph speed limit ? speed is a factor in every collision, now i know that all you "good" drivers who can handle a car at 80mph say we know better and its not us that cause collisions, it the slow drivers, scooter and cyclists that get in our way that are the problem. This is not a motorway its an urban road with houses, footpaths, shops and bus stops and any who says you can drive past that lot at 70mph safely is either deluded or lacks any sence of road safety. I think 40 is more realistic and it will be safer. Its about 3 miles from picket post to ashley
with a 40mph limit it will take an extra 80 seconds..... 80 seconds out of your day.. has got to be worth it.

The-Bleeding-Obvious says...
9:27pm Mon 18 Mar 13

Retry, Try searching the definition of accident!

ac·ci·dent
/ˈaksidənt/Noun
1.An unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally, typically resulting in damage or injury.
2.A crash involving road or other vehicles, typically one that causes serious damage or injury.



Synonyms
mishap - chance - casualty - misadventure - fortuity

Was the copper the one that could read or the one that could write?

upyourpipe says...
10:18pm Mon 18 Mar 13

Chris the plumber wrote:
why oh why are so many people against a 50mph speed limit ? speed is a factor in every collision, now i know that all you "good" drivers who can handle a car at 80mph say we know better and its not us that cause collisions, it the slow drivers, scooter and cyclists that get in our way that are the problem. This is not a motorway its an urban road with houses, footpaths, shops and bus stops and any who says you can drive past that lot at 70mph safely is either deluded or lacks any sence of road safety. I think 40 is more realistic and it will be safer. Its about 3 miles from picket post to ashley
with a 40mph limit it will take an extra 80 seconds..... 80 seconds out of your day.. has got to be worth it.
why oh why are so many people against a 50mph speed limit ? speed is a factor in every collision,.
.
How do you work that out.
In the Echo tonight a pedestrian was hit by a bus outside the Royal Bournemouth Hospital as it was pulling into the bus stop, how is speed a factor when the bus was doing no more than 10mph, shall we reduce all speeds down to 5 mph every where just to please people like you

scrumpyjack says...
10:39pm Mon 18 Mar 13

grazzer wrote:
The biggest danger here is that many drivers exiting from the Ashley Heath roundabout join the slip road TOO SLOWLY. .lf you are joining a traffic stream that is doing 70mph it stands to reason that you should be matching their speed as you exit.Joining a dual carriageway at half the speed of the main traffic is extremely dangerous
You mean the nervous types who claim that joining a dual carriage way with a 70 limit is 'madness'?

Despite hundreds, if not thousands, doing so safely at this junction every day.

scrumpyjack says...
10:55pm Mon 18 Mar 13

Chris the plumber wrote:
why oh why are so many people against a 50mph speed limit ? speed is a factor in every collision, now i know that all you "good" drivers who can handle a car at 80mph say we know better and its not us that cause collisions, it the slow drivers, scooter and cyclists that get in our way that are the problem. This is not a motorway its an urban road with houses, footpaths, shops and bus stops and any who says you can drive past that lot at 70mph safely is either deluded or lacks any sence of road safety. I think 40 is more realistic and it will be safer. Its about 3 miles from picket post to ashley
with a 40mph limit it will take an extra 80 seconds..... 80 seconds out of your day.. has got to be worth it.
40? On a dual carriage way that safely carries hundreds of thousands of people every year?

Oh sod it why not make the max speed of the country 40?

I am sorry but I agree totally with all of the commentators suggesting it is lack of ability that causes these problems not speed in itself.

But hey the pack should move at the pace of the slowest member eh?

pedalnottothemetal says...
11:06pm Mon 18 Mar 13

Chris the plumber wrote:
why oh why are so many people against a 50mph speed limit ? speed is a factor in every collision, now i know that all you "good" drivers who can handle a car at 80mph say we know better and its not us that cause collisions, it the slow drivers, scooter and cyclists that get in our way that are the problem. This is not a motorway its an urban road with houses, footpaths, shops and bus stops and any who says you can drive past that lot at 70mph safely is either deluded or lacks any sence of road safety. I think 40 is more realistic and it will be safer. Its about 3 miles from picket post to ashley
with a 40mph limit it will take an extra 80 seconds..... 80 seconds out of your day.. has got to be worth it.
It is 3.85 miles from Picket Post to Ashley Heath r/bout ( source AA ). At 40 mph this would take nearly 6 minutes compared to 3mins 35 seconds at 70mph or 4 minutes at 60mph or just below.

As you haven't said if you want your restriction to apply to both westbound and eastbound carriageways, we could assume that most people will be going there and back and that could be over 4 minutes each day, not 80 seconds.

Annual Average Daily Traffic on the A31 at Ringwood is over 45,000 vehicles per day but even if we take just 20,000 vehicles at 3 minutes extra time that is 1,000 hours per day.

Just because the New Forest MP called it an urban road I don't think many would agree with that description.

What evidence do you have for stating that crawling through Ringwood at 40mph would be safer ?

What impact on the economy of East Dorset do you think your 40 mph limit would have ? Would that be worth it ?

retry69 says...
5:37am Tue 19 Mar 13

The-Bleeding-Obvious wrote:
Retry, Try searching the definition of accident!

ac·ci·dent
/ˈaksidənt/Noun
1.An unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally, typically resulting in damage or injury.
2.A crash involving road or other vehicles, typically one that causes serious damage or injury.



Synonyms
mishap - chance - casualty - misadventure - fortuity

Was the copper the one that could read or the one that could write?
Sarcasm is such a funny thing,but i am merely pointing out that incidents on our roads are not refered to as accidents anymore for specific reasons and any responsible road user would know that

The-Bleeding-Obvious says...
5:53am Tue 19 Mar 13

retry69 wrote:
The-Bleeding-Obvious wrote: Retry, Try searching the definition of accident! ac·ci·dent /ˈaksidənt/Noun 1.An unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally, typically resulting in damage or injury. 2.A crash involving road or other vehicles, typically one that causes serious damage or injury. Synonyms mishap - chance - casualty - misadventure - fortuity Was the copper the one that could read or the one that could write?
Sarcasm is such a funny thing,but i am merely pointing out that incidents on our roads are not refered to as accidents anymore for specific reasons and any responsible road user would know that
And these incidents are accidents because they are not intended or deliberate.

Chris the plumber says...
8:26am Tue 19 Mar 13

pedalnottothemetal wrote:
Chris the plumber wrote:
why oh why are so many people against a 50mph speed limit ? speed is a factor in every collision, now i know that all you "good" drivers who can handle a car at 80mph say we know better and its not us that cause collisions, it the slow drivers, scooter and cyclists that get in our way that are the problem. This is not a motorway its an urban road with houses, footpaths, shops and bus stops and any who says you can drive past that lot at 70mph safely is either deluded or lacks any sence of road safety. I think 40 is more realistic and it will be safer. Its about 3 miles from picket post to ashley
with a 40mph limit it will take an extra 80 seconds..... 80 seconds out of your day.. has got to be worth it.
It is 3.85 miles from Picket Post to Ashley Heath r/bout ( source AA ). At 40 mph this would take nearly 6 minutes compared to 3mins 35 seconds at 70mph or 4 minutes at 60mph or just below.

As you haven't said if you want your restriction to apply to both westbound and eastbound carriageways, we could assume that most people will be going there and back and that could be over 4 minutes each day, not 80 seconds.

Annual Average Daily Traffic on the A31 at Ringwood is over 45,000 vehicles per day but even if we take just 20,000 vehicles at 3 minutes extra time that is 1,000 hours per day.

Just because the New Forest MP called it an urban road I don't think many would agree with that description.

What evidence do you have for stating that crawling through Ringwood at 40mph would be safer ?

What impact on the economy of East Dorset do you think your 40 mph limit would have ? Would that be worth it ?
It is an uban rd, what else could it be ??
Of course 40mph would be safer, the car that knocked that for girl of her scooter could have been doing 40 mph but the cars that hit her after should have been able to stop if they were traveling at a reasonable speed and at a reasonable distance apart.
And what impact will a 40mph limit have on the economy ? the car body shops may have less work, the fuel station will sell less fuel, the Dr`s will see less stress and the A & E will be less busy... and you wont be stuck for hours on a road that is closed because someone has been injured or worse by traffic blindly traveling at 70 mph because thats the maximum limit..

upyourpipe says...
8:41am Tue 19 Mar 13

pedalnottothemetal wrote:
Chris the plumber wrote:
why oh why are so many people against a 50mph speed limit ? speed is a factor in every collision, now i know that all you "good" drivers who can handle a car at 80mph say we know better and its not us that cause collisions, it the slow drivers, scooter and cyclists that get in our way that are the problem. This is not a motorway its an urban road with houses, footpaths, shops and bus stops and any who says you can drive past that lot at 70mph safely is either deluded or lacks any sence of road safety. I think 40 is more realistic and it will be safer. Its about 3 miles from picket post to ashley
with a 40mph limit it will take an extra 80 seconds..... 80 seconds out of your day.. has got to be worth it.
It is 3.85 miles from Picket Post to Ashley Heath r/bout ( source AA ). At 40 mph this would take nearly 6 minutes compared to 3mins 35 seconds at 70mph or 4 minutes at 60mph or just below.

As you haven't said if you want your restriction to apply to both westbound and eastbound carriageways, we could assume that most people will be going there and back and that could be over 4 minutes each day, not 80 seconds.

Annual Average Daily Traffic on the A31 at Ringwood is over 45,000 vehicles per day but even if we take just 20,000 vehicles at 3 minutes extra time that is 1,000 hours per day.

Just because the New Forest MP called it an urban road I don't think many would agree with that description.

What evidence do you have for stating that crawling through Ringwood at 40mph would be safer ?

What impact on the economy of East Dorset do you think your 40 mph limit would have ? Would that be worth it ?
What a sad life you must lead, this is just about as boring as the elections and tv coverage of the new popes election, actually the popes election was more interesting that you.

The Liberal says...
9:14am Tue 19 Mar 13

The-Bleeding-Obvious wrote:
retry69 wrote:
The-Bleeding-Obvious wrote: Retry, Try searching the definition of accident! ac·ci·dent /ˈaksidənt/Noun 1.An unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally, typically resulting in damage or injury. 2.A crash involving road or other vehicles, typically one that causes serious damage or injury. Synonyms mishap - chance - casualty - misadventure - fortuity Was the copper the one that could read or the one that could write?
Sarcasm is such a funny thing,but i am merely pointing out that incidents on our roads are not refered to as accidents anymore for specific reasons and any responsible road user would know that
And these incidents are accidents because they are not intended or deliberate.
Call it what you like. If a driver was careless, they'll still be in trouble with the law.

BoscVegas says...
10:14am Tue 19 Mar 13

As someone who uses this junction everyday, i don't really want people staring at their speedos instead of looking out for merging traffic. I think a better option would be a flashing sign advising traffic on the main road of the junction well in advance so that fast moving thru traffic can pull onto the right hand lane.

NB: i understand that a competent should be able to have a pretty accurate idea of their speed without looking at the speedo but, as often mentioned on here, the general standard of driving in the area is pretty poor.

Astrium says...
10:01pm Sat 23 Mar 13

I agree a speed limit of 50 is good as a temporary measure on this stretch of road, however it is time that the road network is improved to allow for the volumes of traffic that passes through the area. Why don't we have a proper motorway system for Dorset? Why don't we have a link road from Christchurch to Poole? Our area has been short changed for years from central government and local do good action groups whom object to change or development, is Dorset for losers or for change? If we are to boost the local economy than we need decent road links, maybe our local MP's should start lobbying and not nodding like donkeys just because someone else has lost a life!

click2find

About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree